BEST CARDINAL TEAMS...

Adam writes...

Here's the thing, Jim: The St. Louis Cardinals recently clinched the National League Central Division title. You hear a lot of people saying that this is "the Cardinal's year," and I'm inclined to believe that based on the exemplary performance almost everyone on their 40-man roster. Let me ask you this: do you think the 2005 Cards are among the best Cardinals teams EVER? What Cards teams would you put at the top of that list?


Ooooo... Adam, good question! Let's start with this being the Cardinals year. I've got to believe these guys are not only very good, but they are on a mission. They have to be driven by the poor performance in last year's world series. To have won 105 games, plus the incredible performance in the NLCS against Houston, and then fall apart when the whole nation was watching them has to be driving them to redemption. (As I type this, John Gall just hit a 3 run homer to lift the Cards over the Reds 5-2.) Anything less than winning the World Series has to be considered failure to this team. This team is everything that last year's team was plus great starting pitching and a killer bench. We lost Matheny, Renteria, and Woody Williams but gained Molina, Ekstien and Mulder, not to mention a healthy Carpenter who has as good a chance to win the Cy Young as anyone. Plus, plus, plus and plus!

Now, as far as this team being the best Cardinals team ever? One of the best? Yes. Best. No. As each milestone is accomplished they are continually compared to the '44-'46 Cardinals. Just think about the hall of famers on that team and it is hard to think that this team is better. The teams in the mid 20's were also great and we had some great teams in the 30's, but I'm still thinking the teams in the 40's were the best. How many hall of famers do you think are on this team. Pujols, for sure if he keeps up this torrid pace. Edmunds? Rolen? Very good but probably not hall of famers. Of course, the number of hall of famers on a team does not neccesarily make the best team, but it is a good indicator.

Tell you what I'm going to do. I'll have to do some research and see if I can come up with stats that will be better indicators of which team could be considered the best team since 1900. Very interesting project. I'll get back to you with the final answer as soon as I can.